Hawkeye: The Origins of Kate Bishop
by pglgpn
Summary: The origin of Kate Bishop, reimagined. Please no hate, just good feedback and ideas for the next chapter. ideas will be credited to the owners. Chapter 3: co-written with Dark Shadow (you know who you are)
1. Chapter 1

I never was a troublesome child. It's not like I had much to get in trouble for. I only had my sister, Susan, growing up. My mom got sick when I was little, so I don't have much memory of her. My dad wasn't really around during that time, Susan said it was because he sad, that he surrounded himself with work cause that was the only thing he had control over. Now a days, dad isn't around much and Susan was always off with her boyfriend, so I try and make sure I get as much attention as I can. For example, today at Danbury Preparatory Academy, in about ten minutes, a tape of this year's homecoming queen bribing the headmaster with her "feminine wiles" and then becoming homecoming queen. You may be wondering, how did a wealthy Manhattan socialite come across this tape? I have many tricks up my sleeve, stealth is one, and black mail is another. Danbury is just another prep school trying to form me in the high-class mold. It's also my fourth chance this year. My father is just trying to get rid of me so then he can spend more time with work and his new wife Heather. Who, may I mention, is three years older than me. Five minutes.

"Ms. Bishop," my English teacher says. "Mr. Haze would like to see you in his office." Right on time. Little background, I am blackmailing the headmaster. I know it will get me expelled, but that's what I want. Danbury bores me, but then again so does most things. That's why I do them.

"Tell him I am on my way," I say standing up, gathering my stuff. I walk through the lavish halls of Danbury Prep. Dad thought that Danbury would be the perfect match for me; Heather thought that her Alma matter, Hawthorne Academy, was better. I walk into the headmaster's office, and am greeted by the man himself, Headmaster Jones. Three minutes.

"Miss Bishop," he is angry. "Please step into my office." I walk in and he shuts the door.

I check my watch. "Better make this quick, only two and a half minutes left." he scowls at me.

"I hope you know that you could be arrested for this."

"I know. And I also know that you could be coming along too. Having sex with a minor on your desk? Not very good on a resume, Mr. Jones." The taunting is my favorite part. "One minute."

"Miss Bishop, tell me your terms, please."

"You are staling. I know, I used the same tactic to draw this out too. You have a bunch of tech nerds trying to hack my phone, where the video will leak. Only problem is that, my phone isn't the only place that it will leak from." Suddenly, the phone rings. He picks it up with haste.

"Hello," he says. "Yes, I have her here. Well, okay then. You know that… I see. Okay. See you soon." Mr. Jones looked over at me. "Good news, you have been bailed out." Susan. I knew she would come through eventually. She'll come and grab me from this hellhole and then take me back home to New York, where I belong.

"That's great news." I stab back. I delete the video from all of my devices. "There, now you're safe."

"If you could go wait outside," he stands to open the door. "That would be great." I walk over to the couch in the lobby of his office area. I sit and open a magazine. Just as I open to the first page, a voice rips through the hall.

"KATHERINE!"

"Shit." I mumble. I knew that voice and it wasn't Susan's. Derek Bishop walks through the door, with Heather and Susan tagging behind.

"You," he points at me. "I will get to you later." Then he storms into Headmaster Jones's office, Heather tagging behind him.

"He is really pissed isn't he?" I look over to Susan. She laughs and sits next to me on the couch. Then she stops.

"Blackmail Kate? Really?" I roll my eyes at her. "They wouldn't let me come in and advocate for you. This is it. They have to find a new school for you now."

"What have they lined up for me now?"

"Nothing yet." She is still wearing her gloves. "Damnit Kate. You always have to upstage your big sister. Don't you?" and with that, she takes off her gloves and shows me her left hand.

"Collin proposed?" Susan nods. I stand and hug her. "I am so happy for you! So, when is the wedding?"

"A month from now," she sighed sitting back down. "Dad is going back to the office for the next couple months."

"You mean he wants to make sure I don't get myself kicked out of another school," I sit back and laugh. I have been to three different prep schools in the past two years. Susan has tried to keep me in one school for a long period of time, but they just don't work. They want the Kate that they see in the lifestyle or business sections of every paper in New York, but that's not me. That's the girl my parents wanted for good publicity, which I was. I am not that girl. I sneak into headmaster's office's to get top-secret security tapes to blackmail them.

"Kate," just as Susan was about to finish her sentence, another "KATHRINE" ripped through the office. Susan and I stood up to see my father coming out of the office, with Heather following shortly behind.

"The limo is out front," Heather piped up from behind him. Susan and I followed them out to the car.

"Do you realize what you did?" Derek Bishop is not normally a happy person. Not since our mother died.

"One count of breaking and entering and," I counted on my fingers for a moment. "Sixteen counts of blackmail?"

"What would your mother say?" he mumbled as he sipped his scotch.

"I don't know, maybe she would tell you to actually pay attention to your kids instead of going on a whirlwind trip with your newest fling and leaving Susan to raise me!"

"She is not a fling, she is your step mother!"

"Did you ever ask Susan about how she felt about you scheduling her wedding for when it was most convenient to you?"

"Don't bring her into this," He yelled back.

"Well, you brought mom into this!" I look over to Susan. She is on the edge of tears. She hates it when dad and I fight, especially about her and mom. We have a quiet moment before I hear Derek Bishop say a rare "sorry".

"I am sorry about the school too." I mumble. "I will try harder next time not to get kicked out."

"Well," Heather pipes in. "I think it would be a good time to propose the idea of Hawthorne again."

"I think that is a good idea," Susan looks over at me. "Heather does have some leverage to get her in there with her record."

"Kate," Heather turned to me. "What do you think?"

I don't know about this. It could be another of those cookie cutter schools, which it most likely is, but I need to give it another chance for Mom. She would want me to stay in school and give it another try. "I'll take the chance." I say. The car stopped and we all stepped out to ride up to our apartment, which was also labeled as the penthouse. As soon as we arrived there, Heather walked off to my father's home office to call Hawthorne Academy, and I threw myself down on the couch. Susan came over and sat next to me.

"Thank you for trying again," she whispers.

"It's what mom would have wanted." I smile at her.

*One month later*

I started school about a week after I got kicked out of Danbury. I made a few new friends, I live at the apartment, and life is good. No more dorms, no more corruption, and no more troublesome Kate. Today I am even going to try on my bridesmaid's dress. You would think that I would be Susan's maid of honor, but I am on the straight and narrow, which means no fake ids to get into bars for Susan's bachelorette party. That doesn't mean I am not going, just that I have schoolwork and need to leave early. Susan chose one of our family friend's Jessica Jones for her maid of honor. I ended up leaving school to find that there was a limo full of Susan's friends waiting to drive me across town to take me to the bridal shop. I hop in and we head off to a tiny bridal shop in the middle of Manhattan. They were all drinking champagne, and I was sipping on a glass. It's not like this is the first time I have had it.

"So," Susan's friend, I think her name is Emma, said. "What color are we wearing?"

"I had picked purple for the dresses," Susan said. "But I had a few other colors for options."

"You are staying with purple," Jessica piped in. She looked over and smiled at me. Jessica's adoptive mother had known my mother for a long time, and this caused Susan and I to be her first friends when she got adopted. We arrived at the shop and when I walked in, there was a whole rack of the same dress just different colors. I picked a purple dress off the rack and looked at it.

"That would be perfect one," Jessica said from behind me. "Go show it to Susan."

I turned around and said, "Susan what about this one?"

"Oh my god," Susan came towards me. "That one is amazing, and your size! Go try it on!" she shoved me towards the dressing room. I slipped into it. I stepped out to see all eight of Susan's bridesmaids staring at me. It was the perfect fit and it did look amazing.

"Susan," Jessica said. "I think that is the one. It is amazing."

"Kate?" Susan look toward me.

"Susan, this is the one." I said smiling at her. She went to the clerk to pay for the dresses and we all left with our dresses. We headed back to the car and handed the driver our dresses. Susan got lucky they had all of the sizes in stock in purple. It was about 6:30, which meant that we would all head back to the apartment and get ready for Susan's party and the be off by eight o'clock. Then, Susan would have her day of recovery/spa day with the girl's/ part two of the party, and then get married the next day.

While everyone got dressed, I worked on an essay that was due tomorrow, since I was still am a student in school for another couple months. After I finished off the final paragraph, I realized I had more work than I thought. I headed out to tell Susan that I wouldn't make it to part one of the party, but I promised that I would be there for part two tomorrow. Then I headed off back to more homework.

I had been working for about six hours before I finally got exhausted enough to decide it was time to call it quits. I had finished a majority of my work, but I am sure my teachers would give me an extension because of the wedding of the century this weekend that I had to attend. I showered and climbed into bed just to hear the very drunk partygoers enter the apartment. They all passed out on the couch and it was quiet for me to fall asleep.

I woke up at six to get in a car to ride for a half day at school. It wasn't like I was going to miss anything. Heather and my father had paid the headmaster and the school board to make it a half-day, just so I could joint the rest of the bridal party in day two of the bachelorette party. I walked out to see the limo waiting again, full of hungover women. Well, everyone except Jessica is hungover. I tried to shut the door quietly, but ended up earning eight moans.

"It's okay," Jessica whispered. "They should be better after the spa day."

I laughed.

We arrived at the spa which was "super Zen" according to Emma, who booked the spa day. We were greeted at the door with robes and cucumber water. I ended up getting a back massage and a hand massage. Then I went and sat in the sauna with the rest of the bridesmaids. Susan hadn't come out from her full body massage, but Emma said that's probably because she fell asleep on the table and they just let you sleep here.

"Plus," Jessica said. "She will need her sleep for her wedding tomorrow, cause you know she won't get any tonight."

"Do you think she'll get cold feet?" another one of Susan's friends said.

"No," I answered back. "She has been waiting for this for a long time." Then Susan walked in, looking refreshed from her nap.

"That was so relaxing," she said stretching and sitting down. "I feel so refreshed for my wedding day tomorrow.

"Don't forget the rehearsal dinner tonight," Jessica piped in.

"How could I forget it? My father is putting it on tonight at the apartment."

"What? I thought we were going to The Four Seasons?" Emma yelled shocked.

"I wanted a home style meal with no cameras in our face." Susan smiled. Emma just sighed. She was pissed.

Emma was one of Susan's elementary school friends, but she hated me. When Jessica was adopted and became friends with us, Emma got very jealous and tried multiple times to leave Jessica in the dust and be Susan's best friend. She got super mad when Susan chose Jessica over her. But still, Emma tries to take over the maid of honor duties from Jessica. Like arranging this part of the party today, but none of us minded it.

We had arrived back at the apartment to a catering team setting up for dinner and Heather bossing them all around. Derek Bishop came out of the kitchen smiling and laughing.

"My girls," he said. I could smell the scotch on his breath. He hugged us and kissed us each on the cheek. "I can't believe you are getting married. Well, you two better get ready for dinner. Heather invited some photographers over for both the press and the memories. So look your best."

Susan and I turned around and walked toward our rooms. Susan sighed, "I can't believe heather did that. I told them no press."

"I am so sorry," I would be pissed off too. " I am going to get dressed. I will see you out there." I put my hand on her arm. She walked off to her room as I entered mine. Heather had set out a black dress on my bed with black stiletto heels. I slipped into the dress and the heels and threw my hair up in a high ponytail. I looked in the mirror and touched up my makeup.

People had already begun arriving to the party. I walked out to see our foyer was filled with people, press and guests. I walked down the stairs and my father grabbed me and pulled me through the crowd, till we stopped at a man who had his back to us.

"Mr. Stark," my father said to the man as he turned around. "Thank you for coming."

"No problem Derek, I love a good opportunity to celebrate," He clasped my father on the shoulder.

"Oh and this is my daughter Katherine," he said. He was star struck. I could hear it in his voice.

"Very nice to meet you, Katherine." He held his hand out and I shook it.

"Very nice to meet you too Mr. Stark." I smiled. One of the people who were on the security detail for the party came over and whispered something in my father's ear.

"Excuse me," he said as he dashed off.

"So," Mr. Stark said. "I hear that you are enrolled at the Hawthorne Academy?"

"Yes," I nodded. "My step mother, Heather, suggested it after the last school debacle."

"Debacle?"

"I caught the headmaster in an incriminating position and I used it to my advantage."

"You hacked the equipment in his office and blackmailed him?"

"Yeah, but the way I say it, it sounds cooler." He laughed.

"You know," He said. "You should come and visit Stark Tower. We could use some people like you on my team."

"Thank you," I smiled. "But…" and then Jessica showed up next to me.

"Hi Tony," she waved to him. "Mind if I steal Kate?" he gestured to do so, and then I was off zipping through the crowd with Jessica. "There are some people that I want you to meet."

We continued to push through the crowd until we reached a large African American man and a shorter, blonde haired man.

"Kate, this is my fiancé Luke and our friend Clint Barton." I shook both their hands. Above me on the stairs were Susan and her, soon to be, husband Collin.

"Hello," Susan said after the room quieted. "Food will be served soon, so find your seat. We would like to thank you all for coming and helping us pre celebrate our marriage." Everyone clapped and we found our seats. Jessica and I sitting next to Susan and Emma, who was sitting where Jessica is now, is next to me now. She wasn't happy to be next to me. Dinner was served and so was desert. They were both good and toasts were made as the servers cleaned off the table. The toasts were hilarious as always, and then people began leaving. A security person who I didn't recognize came over to me.

"Hello, Mr. Stark would like to speak to you." he said.

"Oh, okay, just hold on a second," I rushed over to Jessica. I whispered, "Do you recognize him?"

"Yeah, that's Tony's driver."

"Oh, okay." I walked back over to Tony Stark's driver and followed him to the group of people filling out of the party. And standing there, with Jessica's fiancé and Clint Barton, was none other than Tony Stark.  
"Katherine," he said, "I wanted to give you my card before I left, just incase you wanted to use your powers for good."

"Thank you," I smiled again. "I am sure my father will be happy to have you at my sister's wedding tomorrow."

"Of course, as long as nothing comes up tomorrow," he looked toward Clint, and then the three of them got on the elevator with Jessica, who dashed over at the last minute.

"Bye Kate," she waved. After they left I went upstairs, showered and went to bed. I needed the rest for tomorrow.

"Kate!" I felt someone land on top of me. "Wake up!" It was morning and the person on top of me was Susan. "It's my wedding day!"

"I am up," I sat up and walked to Susan's room, where her eight bridesmaids were getting ready. We had our hair and makeup done and we put on our dresses and hopped in the limo to the church. We rushed in to the lobby of the church and hid behind the doors that led into the rest of the church. One by one, the bridesmaids walked in, till it was Jessica's turn.

"Don't get cold feet," she whispered before she walked through the doors. Our father and Heather were at the front of the church, because Susan wanted me to walk her down the aisle.

"Are you ready to do this?" I asked her as we walked toward the door.

She smiled at me "yeah, it's my turn to live now." And we walked through the doors and down the aisle. Neither of us could stop smiling as we walked. I gave her away to Collin and she handed her bouquet off to Jessica. They said their vows and exchanged rings and kissed and ran off down the aisle to the waiting press and limo to take them away. The rest of the bridal party got into our own limos, then the guests in to theirs. Then we went to the reception, which was held in tents in central park. There was a path lit by string lights, all the way to the reception. There was food and over 200 guests. Susan and Collin were dancing and having a great time. After dinner, everyone began dancing, and it got a bit too much for me.

"Jessica," I tapped her on the shoulder. "I am going for a walk. I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," she smiled. "Have fun and be safe!"

I walked out and past the lights and walked along a path in central park looking up at the stars and moon through the trees. It was relaxing looking up at the sky and then just being in the quiet. I walked a bit father, figuring I had been gone for long enough and should head back. I turned around to see a man.

"Hello," I couldn't make out his face.

"This will be easier if you don't scream," he said. Suddenly I heard a sound coming from the bushes behind me. I whipped around and screamed as loud as I could. Then the man who was in front of me moments ago held a cloth to my mouth and the last thing I saw were the stars in the sky as the world around me faded to black and I felt someone catch me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up, Bitch," I heard a voice. Then I felt cold, and then wet? Cold water. They just splashed me with cold water. My lungs are burning from whatever they used to knock me out. My hands are tied behind my back and my legs are tied to the chair that I am sitting in. The two men who grabbed me aren't the two who are standing in front of me now; maybe they outsourced some help. But these two are wearing ski masks. I look around the dark room I am being held in. One of the men walks toward me and then stands behind me. The other one speaks.

"Now," He has a deep voice, kind of like the others. "My friend here is going to untie you, but if you even think about running."

"We will have to do things that you won't want us to do," The one behind me finishes the sentence. "Nod if you understand." I gave a slight nod. The man behind me untied my hands while the man in front of me untied my legs. I swung one of my legs up and kicked the man in front of me in the face and then stood up and punched the man behind me and ran out of the room before they could catch me.

"Get back here, you bitch," I could hear one of them yell. The house was a multistory house; there was a long staircase that I dashed down. There was no door that I could find, and I could hear them coming after me. I braced myself for impact and jumped out the first story window. I could feel the broken glass in my shoulder, but I just got up and ran. I didn't have any heels on anymore, so it was easier to run. There was a wooded area that I could see about a mile off from the field in front of me. If I could just make it to the woods, I could hide there. I could hear the men behind me, but I was almost to the woods, till I started to feel lightheaded. That's when I noticed how wet my back had become. They were catching up as I was slowing down.

"Help!" I screamed as loud as I could. And I kept screaming until I was too weak to continue running. My screams turned into feeble yells and then the men caught up to me.

"We warned you," one of the men said as he pulled me up out of the tall grass. They dragged me back to the house, with me still trying to yell for help. They dropped me on the porch and went to what looked like a trailer off to the side, where the men who grabbed me in the park were.

"We can't put her back upstairs," one of the men whispered. I could barley make out what they were saying most of the time.

"Well," another said. "What if he is home this weekend? Surely he heard the screams."

The ringleader of all of this finally talked, "We'll just put her in…" and then I couldn't hear them anymore. I looked up at the stars in the sky. If I was going to die, this may as well be the last thing I see. The men came over and one of them grabbed me by my shoulders, I let out a scream of pain. He dragged me down the stairs, instead of up. They were taking me down to the basement.

"Dude," the guy who was dragging me. "She need a bandage, she is bleeding pretty bad."

"Then go get one, idiot." The man who had brought me downstairs dropped me on the basement floor and ran back up the stairs.

"Now," the ringleader of the group said. "I told you that you would regret doing that." I felt so tried. I just closed my eyes as I lost feeling and passed out.

"Here," I heard a voice and felt a nudge, but the voice wasn't as deep as the ringleader's voice. It sounded like one of the men who kidnapped me. "Have some water."

I lazily opened my eyes to see that it was one of the men who grabbed me. My hair was undone and my dress was trashed. Susan would have been so mad. I sat up and looked at the man. I shook my head.

"Please," he held it out to me again. "You need to drink something." I shook my head again. The man just sighed and set the water down. He got up and walked back up the stairs. I stood up and began to try and beat him up the stairs, but I got stopped halfway across the side of the basement I was on.

"We had to do that, so you wouldn't escape." I look over at my ankle, and followed the chain back to the wall. The man walked up the stairs and shut the door behind him. I felt my shoulder, I could feel the bandage over it, but I could also feel that the glass hadn't been removed from my shoulder. I need to get out of here. I hear them upstairs, and then I hear a woman crying and then lots of yelling.

"Mr. Bishop, we can assure you that she is alive. But until you pay us that ransom, your daughter isn't going anywhere." Then I could hear yelling through the speakerphone. Then mid sentence, they hung up on my father. I have to get out of here. I can see a small amount of light flashing back and forth under the door, they had flashlights and it was the next night. I felt around for a rock or something of the sort, but I found something even better. A nail. I held my ankle out in front of me and reached over in front of me. I felt the glass shift inside of my shoulder as I bent forward. I stifled a scream as I switched the nail to my other hand. I jimmied the nail around within the old lock and waited till I felt the click and heard the lock let go. I freed my ankle and looked for a window or something to get out of. I snuck quietly around the dark basement till I saw a small light from the other side of room. It was the moon, and another field, but on the other side of the house form the trailer that my kidnappers were staying in. I heard the two at the door say something about how dinner was ready and they could leave their post to get some. I waited till I heard them walk off and when it was totally silent, I took the nail and jimmied the small window open. It made a loud creak, but that made me get out faster. I climbed up and out using one arm and as I ran, I held the other close to me. I stayed low to the ground and ran through the field. I was almost to the woods when they realized that I was gone. I heard them and ran the last few feet to the woods, and then I was home free. I kept running through the woods till I saw another house, with a barn. I ran out of the woods and up to the barn. I opened the door to see a bunch of cows and some horses. The other side of the barn was open, but that didn't matter as long as I made it up to the loft, I would be good. I found the ladder and climbed up with my good arm. I looked around the lit loft and sat down in the hay and tore off a piece of my dress and created a sling for my arm. I could hear the kidnappers in the distance, searching the woods for me. Then I heard a dog barking from the house near the barn.

"Alright lucky," I heard a voice from the house. "This is the last time for the night."

The dog kept barking, but was still standing on the porch.

"Fine, " the voice said again. "I'll come out with you."

I held my breath as the dog, who was still barking, and the voice came closer to the barn. The dog had stopped at the ladder, and then the voice arrived there too.  
"There is nothing up there," but the dog continued to bark. The person sighed, and started up the ladder. I hid deep in the hay, but a bale was lying on top of my shoulder. I looked down on the floor below me and saw that I had bled through my bandage and was dripping on the floor. Shit.

"Hello," the voice said. "See lucky, no one is…" and that was when the person spotted the blood on the floor. "Alright, who ever is up here, I really don't want to have to call someone and you don't want to get arrested, especially by my friends."

Arrested! That was it! I did my best to toss the bale off from me and stand up.

"Please," I held the one hand I could up and tried to hold the other up. "I need your help." The man tuned towards me.

"Kate Bishop?" he said. And that was when I recognized him.

"Clint Barton! You are Jessica's friend."

"Kate," he came towards me and helped me through the hay. "What are you doing in my barn?" I began to feel dizzy again, and my ability to stand was going too. I felt Clint catch me.

"It's a long story," I let out a small laugh.

"Let's get you back to the house." We climbed down the ladder and Clint carried me back to the house. Once we were inside, he sat me down at his kitchen table and rushed off to another room. When he came back, I saw he had a medical kit with him. He sat down next to me. "So, how did you end up in my barn?"

I explained what happened as he removed the bandage and the glass from my shoulder. "And I ran till I found your barn."

"I thought I heard something weird a few days back."

"A few days? How long have I been gone?"

"Kate, you have been missing for almost a week." He was holding gauze to my shoulder. "You need stitches, by the way."

I saw him pull out a needle and surgical thread from the med kit. I kept talking to him as he stitched my shoulder up.

"There, you should be good now," he said as he taped gauze over my shoulder. "Go up to one of my guest rooms and lay down for a bit. There should be some of Natasha or Wanda's clothing up there. I just did laundry and I am sure they wouldn't mind if you borrowed a pair of pajamas."

"Thank you Clint," I say. "But I would really lie if I could call Jessica first."

"I kind of activated my alarm when I saw the blood in the loft, so everyone is on their way over now. I'll explain it all when they get here, you need to sleep off the blood loss."

"Okay, Thanks." I walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs and walked into one of the rooms to see a pair of pajamas sitting on other bed with other miscellaneous clothing folded on the bed too. I moved the clothes off of the bed and slipped into the pajamas and crawled into the bed. I fell asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up to sunlight in the room and the sound of a plane landing. I heard the door to what I guessed was the avengejet, and people rushing off of it.

"Clint," I heard a voice. "Where is she?"

"Kate is fine," Clint must have been sitting on his porch since I went to bed. "She is upstairs in Natasha's room sleeping." I sat up against the pillows and felt my stitches on my shoulder. I lifted the covers off of me and moved to walk down stairs. I was dizzy at first, but I regained my balance and made it downstairs. When I got to the front door, the regular door was open, but the screen door wasn't. I pushed it open to see most of the avengers were standing on Clint's lawn. Jessica ran up the steps and wrapped me in a hug.

"Ouch," I squeaked.

"Jess," Clint stood up to separate her from me. "Kate has stitches in her shoulder."

"Oh my God," Jessica wrapped me in a hug again, but with her arms around my lower back. "What happened?"

"Jumped out a window," I shrugged. "And then the glass got left in there for a few days." Jessica looked so freaked out by what I had told her. Tony Stark walked up behind her.

"So," he looked over at Clint. "This is what you sent out an alert about."

"I didn't know what was in my hay loft," Clint shrugged. He looked over at me with a stern face. "She also isn't safe anymore."

Stark looked at me also. "Jess, take her back home. Make sure at least one of us is there with the Bishops at all times." He turned back to Clint. "Let's take this inside." And they walked into Clint's house as the rest of us loaded back into the jet and headed back to New York City. It was a short ride back to the city, and then a short taxi ride to the apartment. Jessica stayed next to me the whole ride back to the apartment, with her fiancé sitting on the other side of me. As soon as the elevator opened, I saw my sister, father, and stepmother waiting with tears in their eyes. I ran over to them and they wrapped me in a hug. I changed into my own clothes and came back to my family, who were waiting with a big breakfast for me. I sat down and started eating like I had gone days without food, because I had. I talked with them and ate and enjoyed my family for the first time in a long time.

"Mr. Stark," My father stood up from our table.

"Hello Derek," Stark said. "May Clint and I speak with Kate?" My father looked at me and I nodded as I stood up fro the table.

"In the office," I whispered as I stood near them. We walked to my father's office. I walked over and moved books off from one of the shelves. Behind the books was the surveillance equipment dashboard for the apartment. I went to type the password in and it got denied. I hacked the system and shut off the listening and video to the office. "Now we can talk."

"Impressive," Stark said. "Hacking a Stark security system?"

I gave a small smile. "Learned how to do it when I was ten. It's an easy system."

"Looks like we may need some upgrades at the tower and the mansion before you arrive."

"Wait, what?"

"Well," Clint stepped forward. "Tony and I discussed it, and we think that you should come and train with us. Well, Mostly me."

"No way." I looked at them. "You want me to come and learn how to be you?"

"Pretty much," Clint smiled. "You start in a week."

I can't believe that this is happening. Those kidnappers better look out.


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on," Clint yelled from the control deck of the training room of Avengers Tower. "You can fight better than that. What happened to the champion swordsman of the state of New York?"

I had been training with Clint for about a month now and it had been rough.

"Arrows are very different from fencing foils," I tucked and rolled to a holographic target. I pulled out an arrow and shot it at the target. I swung around and kicked another target. I was also having fight training from Natasha. I was learning to incorporate both into my style of fighting.

"Bishop," Clint said over the mic. "What did I tell you about the roundhouse kicks?"

I shot three more arrows at the moving targets before I turned to face the control deck. "Your girlfriend says otherwise."

"Hey," I do a backflip and take out two more targets. "Don't take…"

"Yeah I know," I shoot another arrow at the target climbing towards the flag mounted on the wall. "Don't take your eyes off the target."

Today's training activity was capture the flag. Me, all by myself, vs. Clint, who was in the control booth controlling 20 holographic faceless people shaped targets. Although, the month off from school for "self defense" training was nice, getting to hang around the tower with the avengers and others.

"Five targets left Katie," this is where it is going to get hard. I shoot two with one arrow. One comes up behind me and grabs me. Kick the knee out, slip out from the arms, and knock out on the face. I look up and see the last two. One is on its way up to grab my flag, and the other is sprinting toward me. I bend down and aim a grappling arrow to just above where my flag is, wait for the target to get in the spot I needed him in, then I shoot. The arrow sticks into the wall of the training room and through the sprinting target. I hold on tight to my bow and swing up to kick the other target out of the way from grabbing my flag. I press the release on the bow to belay down the wall. I shoot down the last target and the targets disappear. The door to the training room unlocks and Clint enters. "Good job, but you didn't account for me." and I watch as he runs toward my flag. I am for his feet and shoot a putty arrow. He sticks in place but shoots a grappling arrow to pull down my flag. I run over with one of the sharper arrows and cut his line and then I disarm him.

"Well, I underestimated you," Clint says as I help him up. "Can I have my stuff back?"  
"Not till after we are out of the training room."

"Smart girl," we walk toward the exit. "Food?"

"Actually, I have to get back to the apartment. My first day back tomorrow and all."

"Oh yeah," we walk out of the training room and up the stairs to the locker room. "Mansion tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I give him his bow and quiver back. "Hacking with Tony and Natasha."

"Sounds like fun. Are you going to shut down Stark Industries again?"  
"That was one time, and it was back up after an hour." It was a simple mistake. Tony miscalculated my hacking skills and started me out with simple coding. While he was explaining how to code, I hacked the Stark Industries server from my phone under my desk and shut down the tower and the mansion in five minutes. I also set up about sixteen different passcodes to re-access the server to get the mansion running again. After that, he decided that the security needed to be upgraded and that I was much more advanced than he thought.

"I heard that Tony coded a backdoor into his new security system." I laughed.

"I heard that the Vision can be hacked so he only speaks in binary or dial up tones." I got changed into my street clothes and tucked away my retractable bow and a few arrows into my bag.

"No way," Clint looked over at me as he was packing his bag.

"That's what I've heard…" It's true. I heard Tony and the Vision talking about working that bug out of his system. I looked at my phone, 30 new texts from Susan. It was 15 minutes after my "classes" were supposed to be done. "Shit. I have to head home. I didn't realize the simulation went that long."

"Want a ride?" He held up a set of keys. Quinnjet keys. Damnit Clint.

"Nah," I held up my own set of keys. Mine were car keys. "I've got my own. Also, I'd rather not have to bypass another Quinnjet security system so you can get home faster." I called Susan on our way to the elevator and let her know that I was safe and was heading home now. When the elevator opened, Jessica's fiancé, Luke, stood in the middle.

"Hey Luke," Clint said. Luke didn't look too happy. "I was just getting her down to the garage."

"I can handle it from here Barton." I gave Clint a quick wave goodbye and stepped into the elevator with Luke. He was parked next to me in the garage and he followed me home, and then escorted me up to the penthouse, where Jessica and Susan were waiting. I rolled my eyes, where Susan's worry was real; Jessica's was fake to keep Susan sane.

"What made you so late," Susan ran over and hugged me.

"I just lost track of time training, and there are no phones aloud in the training room anyway." I gave her my best smile. She always worried too much about me. "Susan, I am going to be fine. I go back to school tomorrow, which is a secure campus, and then I have training after right down the street, and I have an escort for that too. Go on your honeymoon. You have pushed it back enough. I will be fine. I promise."

"Okay," she sighed. "Jess are you sure you got her."

"Totally," Jessica smiled and wrapped an arm around Luke. "We both do. She is like a sister to me."

"And Kate," Susan turned to me. "Please don't cause any trouble, okay?"

"I promise," I held my hand over my heart. "Plus, I am a changed girl." And with that, Susan grabbed her bags that had been sitting next to the door for the month I had been home, and went off on her honeymoon.

"So," I sighed. "Susan and Collin are off on their honeymoon, dad and Heather are back on the boat, and I am here alone, again."

"No," Jessica said. "Luke and I will be here with you till someone comes back. It will be like a vacation for us."

"Jess, you practically live in the guest room now. How is that a vacation?"

"Well, it's more of a vacation for Luke. We need a break from hell's kitchen every once in a while."

"I see now. What is it like down there? I heard that there are some really cheap apartments there, and one of my dad's old publishing mills."

"No way," Jess began walking me to my room. "If you can't handle central park, I don't think you can handle living in Hell's Kitchen." And with that she shut my door and yelled goodnight as she was walking down the hall. I grabbed my robe and some towels and walked into my bathroom to take a shower. Sometime I really hate adults. They always mistreat the people who are younger than them. The other thing is, I am also an adult. Yet everyone seems to treat me like I am five. I step out of my shower and get dressed into my pajamas. Maybe one day they will treat me like I am a real adult who can actually handle herself when she gets kidnapped. Well, now I can. Maybe this would be something to talk to Clint or Nat about. Who knows maybe they are both over at Clint's apartment right now? I change out of my pajamas and into jeans and a sweatshirt. I grab my phone and shoot Clint a text.

_Kate: Hey, need to talk, coming over…_

_Clint: with what?_

_Kate: I have my ways…_

_Clint: Okay what ever…_

_Kate: whatever is one word._

_Clint: WHAT EVER!_

_Kate: Is Nat there too?_

_Clint: No… Why would she… be here in my apartment… with me… alone…_

_Kate: is she there or not?_

_Clint: yes… :(_

I grab my bag and unlock my door. I sneak down the back hallway to the service elevator. I press the button that says garage and hide behind a bunch of boxes next to a janitor's cart. When the elevator reaches the garage, I step out and grab the car keys from my bag. Jess thinks that she has my only pair of car keys, but I had an extra set made for when my sister would take the keys for the car. Back before I was legal to drive. I dash between cars and reach a classic bug that is painted purple to cover the rust stains. I quietly open the door and sneak in and start the car. I drive out of the garage to Clint's apartment. The drive is about 15 minutes out of the good part of the city, but it is always good to be kind of out of the city anyway. When I finally reach the place, it looks kind of shabby. Also, creepy tracksuit guy is out front.

_Kate: come down stairs and let me in… Creep at the front…_

_Clint: Use what I taught you, and climb up the fire escape. Conceder it a training exercise._

_Kate: I kind of don't want to freak your neighbors out._

_Clint: They have to deal with me doing the same thing_

_Kate: true._

I put my bow on my shoulder and jumped to pull down the ladder to the fire escape. The ladder squeaked and made a ton of noise coming down. I climbed as fast as I could and then pulled it back up behind me. I try to be as quiet as I climb the stair up to the top floor. When I finally reach the top floor, I jimmy the lock with my knife, open the window and silently climb into the room. The room is pitch black, I can't hear any movement, but then I hear quiet steps coming up from behind me. In one swift movement, I swung my bow off of my shoulder, nocked an arrow and held it to the person's jugular.

"Whoa," the voice said. It was Clint. "You could poke someone's eye out with that."

"No shit Clint," I placed the arrow back in the quiver. "Why are your lights off?"

"Clint," Natasha walked in to the room turning the light on. "Are you done trying to freak the girl out? Come on in Kate"

"Thank you," I walked by Clint and followed Nat into the large open kitchen/living room area.

"What did you need to talk to us about?" Clint handed Natasha a cup of tea and walked us over to a couch and an armchair.

"I just feel that the constant live-in security system isn't really needed every night," I sigh. "Jess and Luke are great, but Jess treats me like I am ten, and all Luke does is grumble."

"Luke feels the same way. He just wants Jess back in Hell's Kitchen so they can get used to living in their new apartment." Clint sipped what I was guessing was tea from his cup. "He wants to start a married life with her, but she cares for you and doesn't want to leave you alone."

"She locks me in my room at like nine every night. I don't know what to do with her."

"I may have an idea," Natasha spoke up. "Clint was just talking about escaping for a few days-"

"Yeah, to my farm. Not to the penthouse of some building in New York."

"Will you just shut up for a minute?" Natasha shot him a look. "Your next vacation is in another month? Right?"

"Like two weeks, why?" I have no idea where she is going with this.

"How about we get revenge on the guys who kidnapped you." Natasha suggested with a vengeful glint in her eye.

"No way," Clint turned toward her. "There is no way I am sending her back into their hands."

"I won't be going in alone," I looked up at him. "If I am understanding this correctly, Natasha wants to send the three of us in."

"So," Natasha turned toward him. "Are you in?"

Clint thinks it over. He looks like it pains him to be doing this. He looks at both of us. "Fine," he rolls his eyes. "But I am not stitching anyone up this time."

We sit and chat about the plan for a while before Clint's phone rings. He walks over to the wall and picks it up.

"Hello?" he gets quiet for a moment, leaning on the wall, inspecting his scuffed up shoes and then sighs. "Yes, she is here. Yes, she is safe. It's Natasha and I with her. I don't know, Kate?"

"Yeah," I knew who was on then other end of the line.

"How did you get here?"

"The bug."

"She says the bug," he got quiet again. "Listen. I will send her back now. Okay? Yes she will be fine. She drove here by herself didn't she? I know she made you a promise, but I am her mentor and she needed to talk." He got very quiet again. "Well, maybe if you didn't lock here in her room at nine every night she wouldn't be tempted to sneak out!" He yelled and then hung up.

"I will leave now." I got up and grabbed my quiver and bow.

"Tell Jess I am sorry," Clint yelled from the couch.

"Kay kay," I walked over to the fire escape. "See you tomorrow Nat." She waved. I climbed out the window and slipped down the ladder into the night. I hoped into my car and drove the 15 minutes back to the penthouse and then parked in the basement-parking garage. I took the real elevator up to the penthouse, where I figured Jess was already waiting for me.

The doors to the penthouse opened to Jess.

"Why did you go over to Barton's to talk to him? I know you better than he does. You know you can come to me with anything. What were you thinking? Those creeps could have kidnapped you again. Your sister would kill me if she knew what you were doing."

"Jess," Luke came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "She is fine. Let's just go to bed."

"He's right, Jess. Let's just talk this over during breakfast."

"Fine, but you are not off the hook." I walked back into my room and jess and Luke walked back into the guest room. I changed back into my pajamas and crashed in my bed.

The next morning, I woke up and put on my uniform for school. I walked down the stairs to Jess sitting at the table.

"Where is Luke?" I sat down.

"He went home," Jess sighed as she sipped her coffee. "He and I had a very long conversation last night about what to do about you. We came to the agreement that I need to back down a bit on watching over you. So I am going to pop in every once in a while, but you will be here alone most of the time. We need to start planning our wedding and we can't do that if I am here all the time."

"Alright," I sighed. I ate my cereal and grabbed my bag and walked to the elevator to the private car that was bringing me to school. My phone pinged with a text as I stepped into the elevator. Clint marked the message as urgent.

_Clint: Don't go to school today. Something is wrong._

I rolled my eyes. Clint just wants to train more.

_Kate: Why? I have missed enough already. I can't train with you everyday._

I step out of the elevator and get into the waiting car.

"Moring Kate," The driver said.

"Morning," I say. Then I look up from my phone to see one of the men grabbing me and the other driving off.

_Clint: I think the ones who kidnapped you are coming for you._

I try and fight off the man who was in the back seat with me. He had a pretty good grip on me and was holding coliform towards my face.

_Clint: Kate?_

I bite down on his arm and he lets me go. I slam myself to the other side of the car and reach into my bag and the arrow I began keeping in my bag after Clint tried to spar on the street. I reach to the front of the car and stab the arrow into the driver's shoulder.

_Clint: That's it. I am already on my way over._

The man in the backseat with me grabs me again. He pulls me backward so fast I cant grab the arrow from the driver's shoulder. I try jabbing him with my elbows, but I can't get a good shot on him.

_Clint: I have a trace on your phone; they must have you. Be there soon._

He holds the cloth to my face and I act like I am knocked out. I can feel the effects taking over me. When he takes the cloth away, I lunge up and pull the arrow out of the driver's shoulder and stab the man in the backseat as fast as I can. I can feel my body getting heavy and the world spinning. I stab him in the shoulder too, barely missing the lung. I hear something land on top of the car. I lean on the other side of the car and watch as the car door gets ripped off of its hinges and a metal arm pulls out the man in the backseat. Clint swings in and says something to the man in the front seat. The man pulls the car over and gets out holding his hands up. The metal arm grabs him and I hear him slam against the roof of the car. My vision is beginning to get fuzzy and sounds are getting echoey.

"Hey Katie," Clint sounds like he is yelling down a tunnel. "Lets get you out of here. Back up has it handled."

"Okay," I mumbled. I felt myself moving, but I didn't move any of my limbs. Clint is carrying me, that's what is happening right now. I look behind him at the car and I see the metal arm and a man in blue physically interrogating the two men. Oh and there is Natasha, she is walking away from the men and towards Clint.

"I am so tired," I mumble.

"Don't worry Katie," Clint shifted me in his arms. "You can lie down in a minute."

"Don't call me Katie," I mumble as he sets me down on a cot in what I think is a jet. It must be the avengejet. I hear Natasha and Tony talking in the background.

"You will be safe with us here," Clint patted my head, and then I fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

I am lying on a couch. I have a blanket over me. I can hear Clint, but I hear other voices. I open my eyes and sit up, which was a bad idea. I stay on the couch but look for where the yelling is coming from. I know that I am at avengers tower,  
"Clint," I yell the best that I can. The yelling stops and I see Clint come down the stairs.  
"Kate," he wrapped me in a hug. Then he pulled away and looked very angry. "Why didn't you listen to me?"  
"I was late for school," I quipped back.  
"Why does that matter?"  
"My sister wants me to succeed in school."  
"You were in danger."  
"She was there for me when my mother died, she was there for me when my father locked himself away, she did her best to raise me. Me finding a school where I thrive and succeed is the only thing that she has ever asked for. I put myself in danger because she did it for me," I stood up off from the couch. I could feel how dizzy I was but that really didn't matter. "But you wouldn't know about protecting siblings, would you Clint?" and I walked away.  
I walked to one of the locker rooms and changed into my active wear and walked to one of the training rooms. I had been in here before, when I learned how to fight by Natasha. There was a boxing ring and many different types of equipment to use for practice. I wrapped my hands and began punching the bag to get my anger out. I knew about his brother and the whole villain circus thing, I knew that when SHEILD brought them down, Clint's brother went down with them. For all Clint and everyone else knows, Barney is pretty much dead. They never found a body, but the tent went down in a fiery crash. I don't regret what I said about Barney. To Clint, he was his Susan. Barney protected Clint from their father, then abusive foster parents, and then let him thrive in the circus, pulling enough for both of them. Clint eventually got out, after Phil Coulson caught him stealing explosives from SHEILD. They told him he could become an undercover agent and help bring down the circus or be brought down with them. From what I have heard, Clint tried to talk Barney into coming with him to the good side, but Barney didn't budge. The night the circus came down was the last time Clint ever saw his brother.  
"Whoa," I hear a voice from behind me. "Who pissed you off?"  
"Nobody," I say turning around. Suddenly, I am weak at the knees. Standing before me is the legendary James Buchanan Barnes. I look to the metal arm that I remember from car incident. "You're him, the one with the metal arm that pulled the car door off."  
"Yep," he touches his left arm with his fleshy right hand. "Hydra blessed me with this thing after my fall in world war two. It took a little getting used to; both at first and after Steve found me. But after listening to Stark tell me about how blessed I should feel that I am in possession of some of the most advanced tech he has seen, and hearing Steve talk to me about how many life's I could save with this, it made me want to keep it." He had stepped into the boxing ring and gestured me to join.  
"So," I say. "You and Steve. Bros on ice?"  
"That's a new one," he lunges at me and I roll out of the way. "Yeah, both of us were iced throughout time."  
I go to punch him, but he dodges out of the way and catches my right hand by the wrist. Stupid move. But I trained with Natasha. I wrap my left leg around his right, bringing him down onto the floor. He still has a grip on my wrist, but I am close enough to my hip to grab the Widow's Bite that I snuck from Natasha's gauntlet. I flick my wrist and the Bite disables his arm, allowing me to cartwheel over him and pin him to the ground.  
"Ha," I say just before I am pulled to the ground.  
"Still got one working arm," he says as I land on the ground.  
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" another voice enters the room. We sit up and see Steve and Clint walking into the training room.  
"Swear jar," Clint says from behind him. Steve shoots him a look and Clint rolls his eyes.  
"You could have gotten hurt," Steve says walking up to the ring.  
"I was going easy on her," Bucky reaches out for some help up. "Plus, she wasn't the one who got hurt."  
"You know that Stark will have to reprogram it."  
"Actually," I butt into the conversation. "I could fix it quick. I have been studying different types of Hydra weapons, including the arm."  
"Bucky isn't a weapon," Steve comes to the edge of the ring.  
"I know," I roll my eyes. "But what I am saying is that I can fix it, without having him be put into a lab."  
"She is kind of a tech genius," Clint helps me out of the ring. "She disabled Stark industries for like a day."  
"It was more like a few hours, but still. Just let me see."  
"It wouldn't hurt," Bucky says, as he too steps out of the ring.  
"You could have a flash back to your Hydra days," Steve walks behind Bucky.  
"Just give her a chance," Bucky sits down on one of the benches. "Plus, you can take me out if I do have a flashback." I look down at the arm. I pull the bite off from his arm.  
"Friday," I say as I grab my Stark tablet. "Run diagnostics on the arm." I hold the tablet and see what is wrong under the surface.  
"Done," I can hear Friday from the wall unit. "There seems to be something under one of the upper arm plates." I hold the tablet up to Bucky's arm and one of the plates is highlighted.  
"Huh," I grab my training bag. I dig out a screwdriver from one of my tool kits. I get ready to take off the plate and I see his eyes dart around. "Steve, Come here."  
"Katherine," Steve walks back to in front of Bucky. "I told you this wasn't a good idea. If you would have just listened to me…"  
"Yeah I get it," I roll my eyes. "Just come here and talk to your friend." I sit and listen to bros on ice talk about how things were back in the day. They laugh about how Bucky still has to pull Steve out of fights, but this time he is the bigger guy. I find myself laughing at some of their stories. I lift the plate off as Steve is distracting Bucky. I see some loose wires in the arm. I test them by touching a wattmeter to them and they seem dead. I reattach them and then I feel a shock going through my body. I see the same thing happening to Bucky, I do the best to pull the wires out, but we both go unconscious before I can pull them from him.  
I am on a bed, no a stretcher I think. I open my eyes. I look around, I am on a stretcher, and Bucky is on one too. There are other people who I don't recognize, Steve and Clint are arguing with them. The men are saying thing like 'you can't just call 911 and not expect two electrocuted people to not be taken to the hospital.' Steve shook his head. The EMT walks back toward us and Steve turns towards Clint.  
"You shouldn't have let her work on him," Steve yelled.  
"She had it handled," Clint yelled back. "She knows all about that kind of stuff."  
"She is a child," Steve yelled again. "She should be going to school, but you insist on bringing her here and…"  
"She tried," Clint cut him off. "You saw what happened today. We have no idea why they are after her, but Natasha and I plan to find out."  
I moan in pain and I see both of them coming over to us.  
"Kate," Clint says squatting next to the stretcher. "How are you feeling?"  
"In a ton of pain," I turn towards him. "But can I ask you a question?"  
"Anything."  
"Who's Kate?"


End file.
